Claims to vehicles damaged by falling debris or ice on the Queensferry Crossing: EIR release

Information requested

• How much money has been paid out in compensation claims to vehicles damaged by falling debris or ice on the Queensferry Crossing in the last year, April 2021-April 2022?
• How many claims did Transport Scotland receive in this same time frame?
• What was the nature of these claims?

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your request

In the financial year 2021/22 there have been no claims for compensation as a result of damage to vehicles caused by falling ice, or debris, on the Queensferry Crossing. During the same time frame, Transport Scotland paid £1747.26 in compensation for damages caused to vehicles caused by falling ice but this was in relation to incidents that occurred in the previous financial year, 2020/21.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.